Social support, spirituality, and executive functions: An event-related potential (ERP) study of neural mechanisms of cultural protective factors in American Indians (AIs)

Abstract

A resilience-based approach in American Indian (AI) communities focuses on inherent sociocultural assets that may act as protective resilience buffers linked to mitigated mental health risks (e.g., deep-rooted spiritual, robust social support networks). Executive control functions are implicated as mechanisms for protective factors, but little evidence exists on the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms that support resilience. This study examined how sustainable and community-centric factors of social support and Native Spirituality were linked to neural mechanisms of executive control functions in a heterogeneous AI community. Fifty-nine self-identified AI participants underwent electroencephalography recordings during a stop signal task and completed measures of social support and spirituality engagement. Event-related potential components indexed attentional resource allocation for inhibitory processing (N2, P3a) and for response error monitoring (error/correct-related negativity; error positivity). Greater social support was linked to attenuated attentional demands for early and sustained inhibitory processing (N2, P3a). Greater Native Spirituality beliefs were linked to greater attentional resources for early but not sustained error-monitoring error-related negativity. Results provide novel evidence for neurocognitive mechanisms of resilience, contribute a deeper understanding of resilience within Indigenous communities, and highlight the role of salient protective factors in mental health that offer a foundation for targeted resilience-based treatment(s). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1.

SST sample block sequence (2 trials: A go-trial and a no-go trial). There was an additional 8-second blank screen prior to the “And here we go!” message signaling the start of the block and an additional 12-second blank screen at the end of each block.

Figure 2.

Interaction and Johnson-Neyman plots for N2, P3a, and ERN/CRN ERP components relating to either social support (ISSB) or Native Spirituality (NASS) with 95% confidence intervals. (A) N2 interaction plot for stop-trial accuracy*ISSB (social support) depicting correct (dotted blue line) and incorrect stop-trials (solid red line) along degree of social support (ISSB). More negative values represent greater N2 amplitudes. (B) JN population significance region(s) representing the slope of the relation between social support (ISSB) and N2 amplitudes for incorrect stop-trials. The shaded blue region represents where slope is significant and bold horizontal line represents range of observed ISSB data represented in our sample. (C) P3a interaction plot for stop-trial accuracy*ISSB (social support) depicting correct (dotted blue line) and incorrect stop-trials (solid red line) along degree of social support (ISSB). More positive values represent greater P3a amplitudes. (D) JN population significance region(s) representing the slope of the relation between social support (ISSB) and P3a amplitudes for correct stop-trials. The shaded blue region represents where slope is significant and bold horizontal line represents range of observed ISSB data represented in our sample. (E) ERN/CRN interaction plot for go-trial response accuracy*NASS (Native spirituality) depicting correct (CRN; dotted blue line) and incorrect go-trial responses (ERN; solid red line) along degree of Native Spirituality (NASS). More negative values represent greater ERN/smaller CRN amplitudes. (F) JN population significance region(s) representing the slope of the relation between Native Spirituality (NASS) and ERN amplitudes for incorrect go-trial responses. The shaded blue region represents where slope is significant and bold horizontal line represents range of observed NASS data represented in our sample.

Figure 3.

N2 and P3a waveforms for correct (black) and incorrect (red) stop-signal trials and topography maps at FCz. (A) N2 component average activity time window (132–220 ms; blue overlay). More negative (upward) deflections indicate greater N2 components. (B) P3a component average activity time window (250–430 ms; red overlay). More positive deflections indicate greater P3a components. (C) N2 scalp topographies for correct (left) and incorrect (right) stop-trials. (D) P3a scalp topographies for correct (left) and incorrect (right) stop-trials.

Figure 4.

ERN/CRN waveforms (0–100 ms) component at FCz for go-trial responses. (A) ERN/CRN average activity time window (0–100 ms; green overlay) for the CRN (correct go-trials; black) and the ERN (incorrect go-trials; red). (B) ERN/CRN scalp topography maps for correct go-trials (CRN; top) and incorrect go-trials (ERN; bottom).

Figure 5.

Pearson’s r correlation coefficient matrix for variables of interest: ERPs, behavioral RTs and counts per trial type, social support (ISSB), Native Spirituality (NASS), depression symptoms (PROMIS), and anxiety symptoms (PROMIS). Ellipses visually represent correlation strength (blue = positive, red = negative). Significant correlations (uncorrected) are also marked by asterisks: *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. Notably, the sample (n = 59) has 80% power to detect correlations of r = .35.